From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 8/3/2005 3:46 AM ACTIVISTS LAUNCH REFERENDUM DRIVE TO END DRAFT 03.08.2005 - 00:43:56
Leading members of the new alliance include Lev Ponomarev´s For Human Rights movement...
The Soldiers´ Mothers´ Party and several marginal political organizations have formed a League for Abolishing the Draft with the goal of calling a nationwide referendum to end conscription.
Leading members of the new alliance include Lev Ponomarev´s For Human Rights movement,
Valeriya Novodvorskaya´s Democratic Union party, and the Russian Radicals organization, best known for advocating legalization of some drugs and bringing United Nations peacekeepers into Chechnya.
The law on referendums states that a plebiscite cannot be initiated during the final year of a State Duma term, which means that the new league has until December 2006 to collect 2 million signatures and form initiative groups with at least 100 members in at least 45 regions of the Russian Federation.
The alliance is currently setting up its organization and raising money; leaders estimate they will need at least $500,000. Members have not yet agreed on wording for a referendum question.
Although the Central Election Commission (TsIK) rejected Communist Party efforts to initiate a 17 question referendum earlier this year, the TsIK determined that the Communists´ proposed question on maintaining draft deferrals was allowed by the law on referendums.
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